


we'll go there without stopping

by theformerone



Category: Naruto
Genre: Chuunin Exams, F/F, Femslash February 2018, temari cannot tell when she's being hit on, tenten is trying so hard to be noticed, which is like the true wlw mood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-06
Updated: 2018-02-06
Packaged: 2019-03-14 08:33:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13586313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theformerone/pseuds/theformerone
Summary: Kankuro rubs his hands over his face, somehow not marring his make up. Temari wishes she could be that precise."You idiot," he says. "She doesn't want a rematch. She wants to get in your pants!"Or, the Konoha Eleven go to Suna for the Chuunin Exams. Tenten is leaving not without her promotion and a girlfriend, in that order.prequel to'oh you are my star'





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy femslash february, y'all!
> 
> title lifted from eisley's 'golly sandra' aka the wlw anthem of my youth

The Chuunin Exams being held in Suna is a headache of paperwork and bureaucracy that would drive anyone to drink. Temari is of age, but doesn't have time for a hangover.

She's in charge of writing the written portion of the exam, she has to play nice to the elders, convincing them that she's the one planning on going after the Kazekage hat even though everyone with eyes can tell that she and Kankuro will throw their weight entirely behind Gaara when he makes his bid. 

She has to run from one side of the village to the other, making sure the exam proctors have the information necessary to prepare for their parts of the exams. She isn't sure why or how exactly the Chuunin Exams became her pet project, but these days it seems like her responsibilities have responsibilities and they're fucking like bunnies. 

She's stressed. She doesn't want to be bothered. She has to pick up the Konoha contingent of chuunin hopefuls from the village gates and ferry them to their hotel for the sake of diplomacy and allyship and other things that make Temari want to vomit with how cushy they sound. It's necessary political maneuvering. She knows Gaara was the one to push for the alliance with Konoha, with herself and Kankuro backing him up because they knew he was right. 

There are a handful of Konoha shinobi that don't make her want to vomit, but for the most part, they're all soft. Their cheeks are rosy and fat with peacetime. The Konoha Crush, the invasion, that was their first taste of true war.

Temari was there when the Ichibi came out of the tea kettle. The jinchuuriki for the demon tanuki was her brother. Temari herself had been passed over because her chakra coils weren't compatible. She had seen her baby brother kill people. Had been put on his bodyguard detail when she was fourteen, and barely able to control him her damn self. 

The Wind Country deserts were called badlands for a reason; the entire environment of Sunagakure was built to toughen up their shinobi. Fire Country was full of soft, lush forests and dappling shadows. It was strange to know a village that produced horrors like Orochimaru or Uchiha Itachi wasn't capable of making their academy students tough enough to pass the Chuunin Exams. 

Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara had already been chuunin in all but name when they went to Konoha for the invasion. Regardless of how they did at the Konoha exams, they'd be promoted when they got home. Temari had put on an excellent performance, and would have been the pride of her village had that idiot Shikamaru not handed her victory to her. Kankuro was clever and deflected attention from himself, knowing full well that Gaara wouldn't be able to do the same. 

They hadn't worked especially well as a team, considering how much handling Gaara required, but for what they were being sent to do, they had done it well. Once the invasion failed and Gaara of all people started pressing for reform after Rasa's death, Temari had held her flak jacket in her hands and wanted to set the damn thing on fire.

Temari knew her worth, and knew her capability as a shinobi. She could've stayed a genin for the rest of her life for all she cared. It wouldn't change the fact that she had been born and raised to be vicious, calculating, and ruthless. She had stopped breastfeeding early, she and Kankuro both, because there was concern it would make them soft. Only Gaara escaped that, and there were extenuating circumstances surrounding that anyway. 

Suna handled their shinobi like weapons, but at least they had the dignity to be honest about it. Konoha had the gall to birth monsters and insist they were a peaceful village. The number of milk toothed genin they produced was farcical, all things considered. 

And they're early. Which makes Temari late. The bastards. 

She skids to a tidy stop in front of the gates where the Konoha hopefuls are gathered. There are a couple she recognizes; Shikamaru is there for diplomacy's purpose, and he's showing his identification to the sentries. The remaining genin have their papers ready for inspection. How  _tidy._ How  _cute_.

"Oi, Shikamaru," she calls, popping a hand on her hip as she scans the crowd. "It's not like you to be early."

He groans as she approaches, and rubs the back of his neck. 

"You again. What a drag." 

She gives him a toothy smile, looking over to Akito and Yona, the sentries looking over their papers. Temari looks out over the assembled shinobi. She recognizes a couple of them pretty vaguely.

There's a pink haired girl who's hard to miss, because  _who_ had pink hair? There's Shikamaru's teammates, who Temari had met briefly during the failed retrieval of the Uchiha. The girl who Temari beat during the Konoha first round of the practical makes her stop a moment. 

She's different. A little taller. She's wearing terrible shoes for Suna, too much open space around the length of the foot. She's bound to get sunburn on them if she isn't careful. Her hair is about the same, and so is the style of her clothing; she's only in different colors. She's got a better amount of skin covered than some of her fellow genin. Shikamaru's blonde friend has her midriff and arms bare, and a battle apron that's gonna be hell on her legs. The pink haired girl isn't doing much better. 

Temari sniffs and looks back to Shikamaru. If her written exam doesn't weed out these kids, then the survival exam under the Suna sun most definitely will. The girl who she fought in the Konoha exams, Tenten, she's probably the only girl among this group that won't get burned within an inch of their life. Shame.

Temari's a fan of strong women. It's unfortunate that under the Godaime Tsunade, the kunoichi of Konoha are still allowed to be subpar. 

"Welcome to Sunagakure," Temari says, waving a sweeping arm behind her at her village. "And welcome to the Chuunin Exams."

* * *

She drops them off at the hotel with little fanfare because she's a chuunin, an ambassador, and a test writer, and she's  _busy._ She takes Shikamaru with her, ferries him to a meeting with Gaara; Shikamaru's bringing word of Tsunade's support for Gaara's quiet bid for Kazekage. 

She then bolts for the shinobi academy, where the written exam will be held. She goes over the particulars of what she's got written with the proctors. It's a written exam, but it's got components of the survival practical.

She's designed it so that it asks the dangers and safeties of species of animals and plants that are native to Suna. The proctors will be clones, substituted with tumbleweeds and cacti. There's a library on the first floor of the academy; the genin will know that resources are there for the taking. They just have to be bold enough to go downstairs and look for information. 

The Suna written exam isn't meant to be academically difficult as the Konoha exam was. This one measures how good they'll be at taking advantage of resources, or if they'll be too stubborn or scared to step a toe out of line. 

Besides, several of the books in the library had been replaced with those that bore false information. If any of these idiots ate thorn apple or jimson weed because they read in a book that it was safe, it'd teach them not to take everything at face value. Not everything in books was true. And relying too heavily on one resource in battle could kill you. 

She's not a proctor herself, but she will be watching the exams. Having them in Suna was the first, and most important step of the alliance between Suna and Konoha. Temari, as one of the shinobi who had invaded and then came to the rescue of the Leaf village, had to be in attendance. 

She hated the frivolity of it all, of needing to appear somewhere for appearance's sake. But this was more about Gaara than it was about her. This alliance had been almost entirely his working. He had changed in the best way that he could, and was pushing his village to be better as well. Temari would be more proud if she wasn't so annoyed by how inconvenient and silly the pomp and circumstance seemed. 

It's worth it, when she returns to the Kazekage's residence, the place she's lived her entire life, and will probably live in until she dies if the hat ever does come to her. Which, considering Gaara's waning propensity to do things that will get him murdered, and Kankuro's rapidly increasing mastery of puppetry, might not ever happen. 

Her brothers are there with Shikamaru and Chiyo-baa-sama, sitting at a table with cool water and figs for refreshments. Gaara looks up at her when she arrives, and the boy who used to make her quake in fear now only makes her want to smooth his hair back out of his eyes. 

"You look like a raccoon," she says as she enters, bypassing her other family members and Shikamaru. 

Her baby brother takes the indignity with poise, and Temari threads her fingers through his hair until he looks a little less unkempt. 

"I believe I look more like a tanuki, nee-san," he replies. 

Kankuro snorts in the way he does when he's trying not to laugh at something inappropriate. Temari has no such restraint. She cackles, and thumps Gaara on the back twice for the joke before she takes a seat beside him. He's at one head of the table with Chiyo at the other. Kankuro is to his left and Temari is at his right. Shikamaru is sitting towards the middle. 

"Children, please," Chiyo says. "We were in the middle of something."

Chiyo-baa-sama is a brat on a good day, but she's the best interim Kazekage that Temari could ask for. She's an elder herself, but her stooped back is only a half truth. She regularly shows Kankuro his own ass, and the asses of his puppets, to Temari's endless enjoyment. 

While she doesn't explicitly like the Godaime Hokage for being able to counter all of her poisons, there's strong respect between Chiyo and Tsunade. Chiyo's got decent pull on the elder's council and the clan council; if she can look past her own dislike of Tsunade for Gaara's sake, then nobody else really should have much to say about the alliance and the young Kazekage who's trying to broker it.

In the meantime, Temari is playing Chiyo's apprentice for the hat, while Gaara is doing it for real. It was always best to deal dirty with elders; they were sneaky fuckers when they wanted to be, and twice as mean when they thought they could get their way. 

The talk is brief, and consists of much of what Temari had already expected. During the exams, Shikamaru would have brief conversations with different elders, attacking each separately and plying them with how strong the alliance between Konoha and Suna was thanks to Gaara's push for collaboration. He was going to talk about how happy his Hokage was with the changes, to talk Gaara up, and keep Temari's name completely out of the conversation. 

It wasn't as if she was a passive bystander for her brother's political dealings. Temari was the smartest of her siblings, but Gaara had the raw power that it took to be the leader of Sunagakure. Temari and Kankuro were more fit for shadow operations; they were support. 

It was a clever way to structure a clan. Rasa had two older siblings who were passed over for the Kazekage position as well; familial loyalty ensured that the siblings who didn't take the hat already loved the one that did. Built in bodyguards, as Kankuro liked to say.

The meeting adjourns with Chiyo complaining about her back and Shikamaru suggesting the talents of that pink haired kunoichi he was traveling with. Temari isn't paying much attention. She had assumed that she and her brothers would have lunch together as was their custom, but Gaara was standing as Chiyo left the room. 

"Where are you going?" she asks. "I thought we were going to go eat."

Kankuro's entire face lights up, and Temari knows that means trouble. Gaara doesn't make a move, but Shikamaru heaves a sigh. 

"Gaara wants to go with Shikamaru to the hotel where the Konoha hopefuls are," Kankuro says with a leer. "His  _boyfriend_ is there."

Gaara looks impassive, which to Temari and Kankuro clearly means he's flushed with embarrassment. 

"Lee-san is not my boyfriend," Gaara says calmly. 

"Not yet," Kankuro whistles. 

"We are pen pals," Gaara says. 

Temari slams her hands down on the table in front of them. 

"How on  _earth_ am I the last to know about this?"

"He sent him a cactus," Kankuro says. 

"You sent your boyfriend a plant?" Temari presses, rounding on her little brother. "That's so  _cute._ And  _domestic_."

"It was a token of my appreciation," Gaara insists. 

"A token!" Temari shouts, throwing her hands in the air. "Is this a warring states novel? Is that what this is? My brother, fearless jinchuuriki, son of the Kazekage, is sending his  _tokens_ to a  _suitor_?"

"Not just any suitor," Kankuro buts in. "A suitor from Konoha. Our previous sworn enemy."

"Oh my god," Temari says, feigning a swoon. "You're star crossed lovers!"

"Oh Gaara-kun," Kankuro says, getting down on one knee and throwing his arms open. "Let me share the springtime of our youth, and the autumn of our old age!"

Temari leaps to her feet and bowls into Kankuro's arms. 

"Oh, Lee-san," she croons, dropping her voice to her brother's low rasp, "please accept this token of my affection. It is spiky, like my hair."

Shikamaru rubs his hand over his face and looks at Gaara. 

"Can we go before this gets any worse?" he asks. 

Gaara nods and stands up slowly. 

"I think that would be wise."

Temari and Kankuro make kissy faces and noises at them until the two leave. The back of Gaara's neck is bright red, which is enough to make Temari and Kankuro howl with laughter. 

When they're gone, Kankuro stands and gives Temari a hand to help her to her feet. 

"You're letting me help you up?" he asks. "You must feel like shit."

Temari shrugs and stretches her arms over her head.

"They run me ragged, what can I say?"

"Let's go to the kofta place," Kankuro suggests, bumping his shoulder against hers.

Temari smiles.

"Sounds great."

There's a kofta place in the heart of Suna that their mother would sneak them to when they were small children, before Gaara was born. It was a happy tradition between the three of them. In hindsight, Rasa probably always knew they were going. It was a testament to either his kindness or their mother's ferocity that they were allowed to do it as often as they did.

Then Gaara had been born, and they hadn't been able to anymore.

Still, it's something nice that Temari is happy she and Kankuro share. The kofta tastes like childhood, and the rice is always a little too sticky, but it's good. It reminds her of her mother, so she loves it even when the service is awful and the curry is burnt.

"Mirio-san!" she calls as she and Kankuro enter the little establishment. "Start cooking because I'm _starving!"_

The old man pokes his head out of the kitchen and gives her a winning smile.

"Temari-chan, Kankuro-kun," he says, sounding sincerely glad to see them. "It's been so long! You look so grown up! Kankuro-kun, has your make up changed?"

Kankuro scratches his nose; the changes of his face paint were ways the Puppet Corps identified your skill level. He had gone up several notches on the ladder since the Konoha Crush.

"Aw, old man!" he says, face a little flushed. "You noticed?"

"Absolutely!" Mirio replies. "Now who're you calling old?"

Mirio's sister Kusaga had been on a genin team with their mother. That was why she always brought them here for kofta; it was a way she could see a friend she normally wouldn't be able to spend much time with. Kusaga had died on a mission before Gaara was born. After that, Karura had been sure to bring her children around to see Mirio a bit more often than they had before. They were good friends, and it wasn't long before Temari and Kankuro started calling him uncle.

Then the trouble with the Ichibi happened, and Gaara was born, and there hadn't been much time for kofta or laughter for a very long time after that. It wasn't until they returned after the Konoha Crush, battered and beaten but somehow alive, that they made their way back.

Mirio had sent food to the Kazekage residence. The poor delivery boy was in shock. Gaara had answered the door. He was going to crush the food to pieces with his sand, still not trusting but on his way to changing. The smell of curry made Kankuro, put a shaking hand on Gaara's shoulder to stop him.

There was a card in the bag of food that said, _'Congratulations on your promotion!'_. Temari had never cried while eating spicy food before, but she'd blame her tears on Kankuro switching their plates. He always liked his food spicier than she did. Kankuro didn't say anything about their plates being exactly the same; he had cried a little bit into the kofta as well.

"Do you want the usual," Mirio asks, "or would you like to try something new?"

They head towards their usual booth, the one their mother had picked out for them when they were younger. There are little grooves in the wood where she and Kankuro had decided it was a good idea to carve their initials into. Mirio had endless patience; Karura had made them scrub the floors of the restaurant for a week as punishment. 

"Surprise me, uncle," Temari says, waving her hand as she sits down. 

Kankuro wrinkles his nose. 

"If you give her squid, she'll shove it down my throat," he says. "So please, don't actually surprise her."

Mirio chuckles at that and gets back to cooking. A waitress, a pretty girl called Haname comes by to bring them chilled prickly pear lemonade and bats her eyelashes at Kankuro. Temari wants to laugh at the way his eyes follow her when she leaves, then immediately lock onto a waiter named Shoto who passes by afterwards. 

"You don't have any shame, do you?" she asks. 

Kankuro shrugs and drinks his lemonade. 

"I get the best of both worlds," he says. "You and Gaara only get the best of one."

Temari snorts and jams her thumb against her forehead protector. 

"I'd sooner eat this, cloth and all, than date a man."

Kankuro gives her a cheeky smile. 

"Thanks, sis," he replies. "That leaves more for me."

A shadow falls lightly over their table. Temari, almost positive it's Haname, looks up to ask for a handful of napkins to shove down Kankuro's throat. The shadow isn't Haname's. 

"Temari-san," she says, "it's good to see you."

Tenten is her name, Temari suddenly remembers. The girl with the bunhead. She had been teammates with Lee, the one who nearly beat Gaara in the preliminary fight and who Gaara was now arse over tit in love with.  

Temari valiantly resists the urge to say, 'Of course it is, I'm wonderful to see'. Instead, she gives a respectful nod. She looks at Kankuro where he's sitting across from her, but he says nothing. Instead, he looks tickled pink, the fucker. 

She wonders if Tenten will get the hint that Temari is out having lunch with her brother, after a day of running herself ragged, and that she would not like to be bothered by Konoha genin that were still wet behind the ears. 

Instead, Temari says, "Tenten-san. It's good to see you, too. I hope everything is to your liking."

Tenten clasps her hands behind her back and nods. Temari's eyes flicker down to them, then back up. Bold move. Assuming that Temari would just trust that a weapon's expert wasn't up to anything dangerous with her hands behind her back. Temari's own hands itch for a knife between them, but she makes herself relax. 

Tenten looks too relaxed to be planning anything deadly. She probably just stood like that because it was comfortable for her. 

"It is," she replies. "The hotel is wonderful. My teammates and I were exploring the village. I'm in charge for finding a place to eat dinner. Your brother directed me here."

Temari raises an eyebrow. It wasn't like Gaara didn't know about Mirio's. He just didn't like to come with them; he felt like he was left out of the joke, considering it was something Kankuro and Temari did. It was their bonding place. They had invited him before, but kofta wasn't really to his taste anyways.

He preferred the botanical gardens, and Temari would always accompany him there. When he wanted to play board games or logic puzzles, the three of them would be inseparable at the kitchen table for hours trying to solve the game's problems. 

But Gaara suggesting their kofta place to a Konoha kunoichi stank of meddling. Gaara himself wouldn't come there, so why on earth would he send a foreign shinobi to Temari and Kankuro's restaurant?

"There's great food," Temari replies, suddenly confused as to why Kankuro hasn't but in. It isn't like him to be polite to strangers. "But very spicy. Might burn your mouth if you're not up to it."

Tenten raises an eyebrow and puts her hand down on the table. Temari watches her do it, watches her fingers splay out over the table in their black fingerless gloves. 

"I'd say I'm up to it."

Kankuro chokes on his lemonade. Temari looks at him as he coughs behind his hand. 

"Temari-san," Tenten says, dragging her attention back to the kunoichi. "I have a favor to ask of you."

Temari raises a brow. Like she has the time to do random Leaf shinobi favors. She puts on her politics face - a face which makes Shikamaru groan, Gaara sigh, Kankuro and Chiyo howl with laughter, and the elders run for cover - and folds her hands tidily in her lap, pointedly ignoring the urge to pull her own weapon. 

"As the Suna ambassador to Konoha, I'd be happy to do whatever I can to make your stay here more comfortable," she says. "What is it that you need, Tenten-san?"

"When the exams are over, Temari-san, I'd like a rematch."

Temari's politics face slides right off. A mean smile takes its place. Tenten's eyes glitter with her newly laid down challenge, and her fingers dig just a little bit into the wood of the table. Temari puts her elbow on the table, and cups her chin in her hand. Her voice, when she speaks, comes out like acid.

" _If_ you make chuunin this time around, you'll get it."

Tenten grins like she was expecting that response. She drums her fingers on the table, and says, "I'll take those odds."

"Sucker's bet," Temari sneers.

Tenten slides her hand off the table, and as she does, her fingers brush just the barest bit against Temari's elbow. Kankuro coughs again. 

"Make sure you watch my matches," Tenten says. "They'll give you a fighting chance. Wouldn't want you to get caught by surprise when I kick your ass." 

She gives a light nod to Kankuro and gives him a polite goodbye before turning around and leaving the restaurant. At the door, she plucks a paper menu from the stand and takes it with her as she leaves. 

Temari takes a sip of her lemonade, a thread of excitement thrumming in her. She'd wanted a rematch with Shikamaru for some time, but Tenten's cocky challenge caught her attention. She hoped it wouldn't be quite as easy to take her down as it had been the last go around.

Haname swings by with their plates and gives Kankuro a pointed look. They're probably fucking, but trying to be polite about it. Temari hopes she hasn't just witnessed a booty call for her brother. It's one thing to tease Kankuro and Gaara about their sex lives, it was another thing altogether to actually know something about it. 

"Really?" Kankuro asks, once Temari has started shoveling kofta and rice into her mouth. " _Really_?"

She looks up at him, confused. She cocks an eyebrow at him and points at the shawarma on his plate. 

"Are you gonna talk to me or eat that?"

Kankuro looks at her like she's the idiot for not eating her delicious smelling food. He puts his elbows on the table and gives her a long hard look. 

"What do you think that was back there? With that kunoichi?"

Temari shrugs and keeps shoveling rice into her mouth. An aunt had once told her it was unladylike to eat with her mouth open. Temari made it a permanent practice not long after that. 

"She asked me for a spar," she says. "I whooped her during the Konoha exams, and now she wants a rematch."

Kankuro flicks her in the forehead. Seriously. Like they're still children or something. 

"Temari," he says. "You cannot honestly be that stupid."

She furrows her brows. 

"What are you talking about?"

Kankuro rubs his hands over his face, somehow not marring his make up. Temari wishes she could be that precise.

"You idiot," he says. "She doesn't want a rematch. She wants to get in your pants!"

Temari's jaw drops. 

"She  _what?_ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are food for starving artists xx 
> 
> thank you for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tenten held her hand for like, a really long time.

Temari does not have the time to watch a bunch of idiots fail her written exam, so she doesn't bother hanging around the academy when the test begins. Instead, she stands around the entrance to the survival portion of the exam with Kankuro. Gaara is absent because he's playing Chiyo-baa-sama's ghost, helping her with her poisons while she actually teaches him the fine art of statecraft. Temari doesn't have the patience for it. 

"Are you like, sure?" she asks, elbowing her brother in the side. 

She's not shaken up about the idea of Tenten flirting with her because she's not an idiot. She's just reasonably curious about her reasonable chances with the Konoha kunoichi. 

The night before at Mirio's kofta place, Kankuro had buried his head in his hands at Temari's lack of 'street smarts' while she alternated between jaw dropped disbelief and adamant refusal that Tenten's fingers against her elbows had been anything except an accident. 

"We are shinobi, Temari," Kankuro said then. " _Shinobi_. We don't make those kinds of mistakes."

Temari had filched some of his shawarma and drank half of his lemonade in the hopes that he would  _shut up_ because he was  _wrong._  

"Am I like, sure about what?" he asks now, arms folded across his chest. 

He's got his eyes on the horizon, watching for when the chuunin hopefuls arrive. Those who were able to complete the written exam will have been given discreet clues by the proctors ("Fucking riddles, Temari?" Kankuro had asked, groaning, "Really?") and would have to meet there by noon or risk disqualification from the exams. 

"You know," Temari says, feeling absurd for not being able to say it out loud. "Her. The girl. Bunhead." 

"Oh my god," Kankuro replies, and Temari can  _hear_ it when he rolls his eyes. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, I'm serious!" 

"She's into you. I promise."

"Okay, but how do you know?"

"She touched you."

"An accident."

"She told you she was 'up for a challenge'."

"We were talking about spicy food! It's a challenge for Konoha wimps."

"She challenged you to a fight, Temari, how much clearer could she have been?"

"Lots of people ask me to fight."

"Yeah, and you literally never get it then either."

"What are you talking about?"

Kankuro puts up a hand right in her face as if to stop her talking. Temari resists the urge to snatch the hand and wrench her younger brother's arm behind his back. 

"We are not doing this right now," he says. "I am not going to convince you that literally over a fourth of the lesbian population of Suna has tried to take you out at least once by asking you to spar, and that you've turned down all of them because you didn't actually know what was happening."

Temari bites the inside of her cheek. That's absurdly hard to believe. 

She doesn't exactly have the best track record with women. The only reason she knows she's gay is because when she was eleven, she and Kankuro both had crushes on their academy sensei Mezumi. Then Kankuro had a crush on their genjutsu teacher Gin, and Temari had most assuredly  _not_ seen the appeal. 

She doesn't date often, if ever. She's never really had a girlfriend. Not really. There have been spars with other girls that ended with hot breath and little space; a kiss, once or twice. But Temari was the Kazekage's daughter. Gaara was her little brother. She was off limits by association. 

So excuse her for being surprised when a girl was bold. When a foreign girl, who has no reason to care whose daughter Temari is, who could give a damn who her brother is, Temari is, well, suitably shaken up.

It doesn’t make a difference to her. Really. Temari knows that this attention is surprising, but Tenten won’t keep it if she doesn’t pass the exams. Temari knows rank is no indication of competence, but Temari is still a Suna kunoichi and there is something she cannot trust in a person who cannot defend themselves.

In the old days, before Suna was a village, it was customary to offer your throat to the person you wanted to marry. They could kill you if they wanted to. The point was that if they didn’t love you, then you didn’t want to live without them. It had evolved into betrothal combat over time, for the sake of preserving life. It was one of the reasons why Gaara was so sprung on Lee; anyone who could beat you in a fight was someone who could keep you safe.

So Temari keeps her expectations low. And when she sees a newly familiar pair of dark eyes hidden behind a pale white cowl, she ignores the coil of curiosity and interest and want that pools in the pit of her belly.

Tenten made it past Temari’s test. Temari’s deceptively clever test, a test that weeded out over half of the participants. No big deal.

No big deal at all.

* * *

Temari misses the preliminary fights because they’re private. Only the second round is public, a spectacle for all of Suna and the miscellaneous shinobi gathered there for the exams to see.

She does not think about whether or not Tenten’s stupid weapons scrolls got knocked back in her face by a decent fūton user. Instead, she graciously lets herself be scolded by the elders who are convinced that she is not moving aggressively enough towards the Kazekage position.

Temari is Rasa’s firstborn. She’s vicious, she’s strong, she’s clever, and she’ll do whatever it takes to win. To survive. But that’s not all it takes to be Kazekage. Temari doesn’t want it. The hat holds no water for her. But it means everything to Gaara, this borrowed now shared dream between he and Uzumaki Naruto. Transforming from pariahs into protectors. The hat doesn’t mean that to Temari. But it means the world to her brother.

She does, though, unfortunately, have to be there for the final round of competition. 

Because the siblings of the Kazekage will become their council, Temari is there along with Gaara and Kankuro, for appearance's sake. Chiyo-baa-sama complains sourly about the hat and its cowl, rolling her eyes, and demanding refreshments. Shikamaru is there as well, because he's got to be, but he seems content to sleep through most of the matches. 

All of the Konoha shinobi have made it to the final round. Temari tries not to feel somewhat bitter at that; it means that some of Suna's own haven't made it so far. She takes it upon herself to go to the academy to have a discussion on national pride, and to dress down the jounin sensei that allowed this to happen. 

She watches the pink haired genin slam a fist into her opponent that Temari can  _hear_ from the stands. The blonde girl with the ridiculous midriff top takes the body of her opponent and makes him yield through his body. A Hyūga blocks the tenketsu of a katon using genin while they're mid jutsu, making them burn their mouth before they can spit fire. An Aburame sends his many bugs into the idiot who gets too close to him. 

Temari is abruptly reminded of how many clans make up Konohagakure. Suna has very few, and very few kekkei genkai. This show of force is very clearly sponsored by their Hokage. No one would let their many clan children expose their talents in such a way if they didn't have every intention of inspiring a very public pissing contest. 

Temari leans back in her seat as Lee axe kicks a doton jutsu into dust. She elbows Gaara in the side at the same time Kankuro does. She's going to say something snide, but her words die in her throat as the next match is announced. 

Tenten versus Asui Shin. 

Kankuro lets out a low whistle and crosses his arms across his chest. Gaara places a hand on Temari's shoulder and gives it a light squeeze. 

"I am sure your suitor will do fine." 

She chokes on her spit. 

"My  _what_?" 

Gaara tilts his head and says, "Actually, I think it would be 'your whom' in this case."

Temari narrows her eyes at him. 

"Who the fuck taught you grammar?"

"Our tutors, nee-san," is her baby brother's response. "Though you did often think you were smarter than them."

"Be quiet, brats," Chiyo-baa-sama snaps. 

Shin is a fūton user. Not as good as Temari, but maybe a couple of years from being close. He focuses primarily on creating thin slices of cutting wind that can cut through most defenses. He's also an adept taijutsu user; he usually combines his sweeping fūton jutsu with his taijutsu, using the wind to break down defenses before his taijutsu busts in to incapacitate his opponent. 

All in all, he's a more close range fighter than Temari is. Which may give Tenten a fighting chance. Temari bites the inside of her cheek, and wonders why in the hell she cares. 

The fight begins and Shin doesn't give Tenten a moment to think. He's striking out with his piercing wind, using it to push Tenten back. The sandy ground of the arena is working in his favor; his wind is kicking up enough sand to disrupt Tenten's field of vision. Temari presses her lips together and watches. 

Shin kicks up a hell of a gale, but he presses forward hard. He can apparently see Tenten even when most of them can't. He leaps into the air and prepares to strike downwards, an arc of wind following the curve of his arm as his fist aims for what is possibly something squishy and vital. 

His hit connects with the sharp hard chain of a kusarigama. Tenten has pulled the two ends of the bladed weapon taut, and is using the chain to hold off Shin's attack. 

"She used the cover of Shin's big fat mess to summon that weapon," Chiyo-baa-sama says, eyes narrowing. 

It's the first time she's been interested in a fight since her eyes bugged out of her head when that pink haired girl called Sakura landed that loud ass punch. 

Shin leaps back out of Tenten's reach and moves a bit more carefully now. Tenten swings the chain of her weapon, chasing him down with her sickles. Tenten keeps them close to the ground so Shin is forced up into the air. She's keeping him off balance beautifully. 

But fūton users work well in the air. That's part of the deal. Shin makes the hand signs for another jutsu, but as he does, Tenten sticks her hand into her weapons pouch and removes a few pieces of paper.

"Exploding tags?" Kankuro asks. 

"That is not wise," Gaara murmurs. 

"They'll blow up in her fucking face," Temari grumbles, unhappy because she's - well, maybe she thought this fight would be worth watching. Maybe she got a little ahead of herself when she thought maybe Tenten might - Whatever. It doesn't matter. 

Temari shifts her eyes to watch Shin build up one hell of a gale. The slice of wind barrels towards Tenten, threatening to cut her in half. Abruptly, she throws a kunai and then she's gone.

"Substitution," Chiyo-baa-sama says, approving. 

Tenten is behind Shin's gale, in the huge pocket of the sand and wind he's filled the arena with. There's a flicker of something, and then Tenten throws out her two sickles. 

Great swaths of fire follow them. 

Temari stands abruptly, just as the crowd does. 

"What the  _fuck_ was that?"

"She's a fuinjutsu expert."

Temari turns to face Shikamaru, who's got his chin in his hand and is watching the match rather than looking at Temari. 

"She writes whatever elemental transformation she needs into the seal," he says. "Even though she's pretty useless when it comes to proper ninjutsu, it gives her weapons an extra reach."

Temari only realizes her jaw is open when she clicks it shut to snap at him. 

"You say that like fuinjutsu isn't literally one of the hardest forms of ninjutsu to master!"

Shikamaru shrugs. 

"Not for Tenten it's not."

He waves his head towards the fight and Temari looks at it with a new excitement bubbling in her. 

If Tenten infuses elemental transformations into her seals then places them on her weapons, then she clearly knows which nature transformations are strong against which. Wind is weak against fire, because air feeds flames. The fire crackling around the kusarigama gets stronger even as Shin tries to deflect the flames. 

Suiton users are hard to find in Suna, and Shin most definitely isn't one. 

He can't get close enough to use his taijutsu on her, and Tenten keeps him far enough away with her bladed weapon. Temari can see the moment when his attitude, his cockiness gets ahead of them. He runs at the arena wall then twists into the air and blows a small tornado into the center of the arena. 

Tenten swings her bladed sickles in a perfect circle, pumping more chakra into them, and cuts the wind in half. The sand that Shin blows up turns into shards of sharp glass in the air, hardened with the strength of Tenten's katon seals. 

Shin is still in the air and rapidly headed towards the ground. He's gearing up for a taijutsu combo, Temari can tell from the way he shifts his body as he dives. Tenten squares herself, crouches down, and then vaults herself into the air, dragging her chained sickles behind her. Shin isn't expecting it, and neither is Temari. 

With a deft quickness, Tenten throws out the chain of her kusarigama in a curve around Shin and catches them again. She wraps him in hard chain. Temari doesn't know that the chain itself is heated with katon until Shin starts screaming and the skin of his exposed arms turns red, the smell of burning flesh filling the arena. 

Tenten brings them both down to earth, and hoists the other genin up by the collar of his shirt. Shin can't support himself with his legs; the hot chains around him are cutting into his skin, and he can't get out of his bounds. 

"Winner," the proctor calls, "Tenten of Konohagakure."

Temari's mouth is very,  _very_ dry. 

* * *

 Temari does what any reasonable person would do. She fuckin'  _runs._

Her breath is hard and heavy in her chest, and she doesn't know why it's important that she gets to the infirmary to see a Konoha kunoichi when her own countryman has severe burns on his arms and chest. 

But once she gets to the infirmary and sees a nurse running a diagnostic jutsu over the brown haired girl, Temari can't stop herself in the doorway. 

She stumbles forward, suddenly awkward, suddenly stupid and confused and unsure. Was Kankuro right? Did Tenten mean sex by a spar? But would she mind a date? Or maybe just a kiss? 

Temari is woefully out of her depth, even for a genius, for a clever girl of her caliber. She's the older sister of a jinchuuriki, the firstborn of the Kazekage clan, but all of that means nothing in the face of a pretty girl who can fight like - like,  _whoa._

She licks her lips as Tenten looks over to her. Tenten drops her eyes, then looks back at her, and fiddles a little with her bangs. The medic nin says something about a clean bill of health, and Tenten nods towards the door. Temari backs out, stumbling as she does, but when she gets into the hallway, she feels just as exposed and claustrophobic as she felt in the infirmary itself. 

She has no idea what to say or how to say it. She feels foolish. She doesn't know what to say or how to say it or how much exactly she's supposed to say. How do you tell a girl you want to kiss her?

"You - uh. Fought well. Great match."

God she is the  _worst._

The barest little blush comes up to Tenten's cheeks and Temari wants to die because  _what the fuck is she doing and why is she so bad at this_?

"Thanks," Tenten replies. 

Temari licks her lips again, and wishes she had a glass of water. Something to wet her throat. Something to suck up some of the silence. 

"I'd like that rematch," Temari says, grasping for something to say, something that makes sense. 

Tenten grins at her, nodding as she says, "I'd hoped you'd say that."

Temari nods back and feels like a duck; why is she bobbing her head this much? Is that normal? Is the clamminess of her palms normal? She feels sweaty even in her black dress, feels the weight of her fan on her back like some heavy, clunky thing as awkward on her back as she is in her own skin. 

"Just, uh, y'know. Look me up," Temari says. "You know. Before you all leave."

Tenten raises a brow, holding her hands behind her back. 

"You sure?" she asks, sounding unsure. "You're pretty busy."

"I am?" Temari asks. 

Tenten looks at her, confusion written across her face. 

"You're in training to be the Kazekage aren't you?"

Temari slaps her forehead. Then wonders why on earth she slapped her forehead. She doesn't do that. She's  _never_ done that before  _in her life._

"Yeah, I mean, sort of," she says. "It's complicated."

Tenten hums but she looks a little disappointed. 

"I get it."

"I can make time though," Temari says, ploughing through the silence and the insistent niggling feeling in the back of her mind that keeps repeating, ' _Don't fuck this up, don't fuck this up, don't fuck this up_ '. "I can totally make some time. For a spar. With you."

Tenten smiles, and it's bright and shows all her teeth. One of her bottom ones is a little crooked. And her lips are chapped from the Suna heat, and there are sweat stains at the arm pits of her white top. But she's smiling and she's smiling at Temari, and that's - that's nice. Really nice. 

"Awesome," Tenten says. 

"Yeah," Temari replies. 

They lapse into quiet after that, a soft kind of uncomfortable quiet that makes Temari think Kankuro was an idiot and Tenten really was only just after a spar and that Temari should go crawl in a hole and die of embarrassment. She rubs the back of her neck in her discomfort and tries to find words to help her make an exit. 

"I've got to, you know," she begins. "The rest of the matches."

Tenten's face falls just the smallest bit, but she doesn't say anything to stop her. 

"Of course," Tenten says. "I've got to get back to my friends."

"See you, then," Temari grounds out through her embarrassment. "For the spar. Whenever you're ready."

"Yeah."

Temari turns and starts walking down the hall. She's debating the best way to turn Kankuro's face paint into useless purple gunk when there's a curse muttered beneath someone's breath and then there's a hand on her wrist. 

It's Tenten's. Tenten's hand on her wrist. 

"We could, I don't know," Tenten says, giving her a gentle tug to turn her around. "We don't have to have a spar. I mean we could, but we could do something else, too. Like dinner. At that kofta place you and your brother like. I mean, if you wanted."

Kankuro is the best little brother in the world and Temari feels like she's going to combust where she stands. She gives one jerky nod and tries not to die when Tenten holds her hand in both of her black gloved ones, and gives her a shy smile. 

"I'd like that," Temari says. 

"Me too," Tenten says right back. "Is tomorrow okay? Noon?"

Temari nods again, feeling out of her body and excited and warm all over. 

"Tomorrow's good. Great. Tomorrow is great."

"Good," Tenten says. "I'll meet you there." 

"Okay."

"Okay," Tenten says, still smiling that smile, her little crooked tooth charming Temari before she can think to stop herself for suddenly loving it. 

"I've gotta go now," Tenten says after a moment. Temari flexes her hand just to be sure Tenten's still holding it with both of hers, and oh, yeah, she definitely is. 

"Yeah," Temari replies. 

"Tomorrow?" Tenten asks a second time. 

"Tomorrow."

"Okay."

Tenten squeezes Temari's hand with both of hers, then lets go and heads off in the opposite direction. Temari stands dumbfounded in the hall as Tenten leaves, and turns to look over her shoulder a couple of times to pile on sweet goodbyes until she turns around a corner and can't say goodbye anymore.

Temari moves like a ghost back to the diplomat's box, and sits down beside Gaara. It's in the middle of another match, one with a Kumo kunoichi against a Taki shinobi, but Temari can hardly pay attention. 

Tenten held her hand for like, a really long time. 

Gaara gives her a supportive pat on the shoulder and offers her some of the kebab he's been nursing since Temari's been gone. She takes a bite of green bell pepper, chews and swallows. 

"So?" Kankuro asks. 

"I have a date," Temari replies with a mouth full of grilled pepper. "I think. I'm pretty sure I have a date."

Kankuro gives a whoop and claps his hands. 

"Called it! Called it! Told you so! I fucking told you so!"

Temari keeps eating in silence, abysmally watching the match. Tenten held her hand. A girl had never held her hand that much before. Not really. Not ever. Tenten was the first. 

"I understand completely," her baby brother says solemnly. "Konoha shinobi are very peculiar."

Temari nibbles on a piece of lamb, still trying not to feel dizzy. Tenten held her hand for a really,  _really_ long time. 

"Would you like to ask Lee-san for advice on how to woo her?" Gaara asks. "They are teammates."

Temari chokes on her lamb. Kankuro thumps her hard on the back, laughing when Temari rears back up and tells her younger red haired brother, "Abso-fucking- _lutely._ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> competency kink is literally a staple of suna romance.
> 
> their betrothal fight scene is definitely turning over in my mind because oh man wouldn't that be awesome lmao


End file.
